Fried foods are typically produced by coating a food material with a batter liquid prepared by dissolving, dispersing or emulsifying flour, starch, fat, a stabilizer, and the like in water, rolling the coated food material in bread crumbs, and then frying it in a frying oil (at about/approx 170 to 180° C.).
Fried foods also include oven cooking-type fried foods, which are produced by pre-frying a food in an oil heated to a high temperature and then freezing it and are intended to be heated with an oven or the like before eating it. For oven cooking-type fried foods, JP-A 11-137199 discloses a production process of a fried food comprising covering the coating surface of a food fried in oil with a liquid oil in order to prevent a decrease in crispiness of the coating caused by the moisture absorption of the coating during frozen storage and the moisture transfer during heating in a microwave oven. In the production process, a food is once fried in oil at a high temperature and then the resulting fried food is covered with a liquid oil.
It is also suggested that a frying oil is permeated into a food material as it is or a food material that is previously seasoned, aged and frozen, or a fat powder or liquid shortening is strewn over the food material, and the resulting food material is heated with saturated steam and then steamed by spraying superheated steam to produce a non-fried processed food (JP-A 11-178513). However, a frying oil used in this method is not particularly limited and the final food thus obtained may be unevenly cooked or may have the dry surface, so that it may be inferior to a oil-fried food in taste. Furthermore, the baking method requires two steps of heating with saturated steam and steaming by spraying a food material with superheated steam. It is also suggested that a food material is rolled in bread crumbs coated with a solid fat in order to suppress the moisture adsorption and the food material then is cooked to prepare meuniere (JP-A 10-229840). However, the food thus obtained is not a fried-like food.
In addition, a fat composition for preparing fried foods is suggested which is a fat composition prepared by adding and dissolving 4.0% by weight or less of an emulsifying agent into a liquid fat, and wherein the interfacial tension between the fat composition and water at 80° C. is 7 mN/m or less 3 seconds after the interface formation (JP-A 2002-101819). This fat composition is directed to production of a fried food and said fried food is produced by adding and dissolving an emulsifying agent into a frying oil and then carrying out a step of frying in the frying oil.